Tag Archives: Sparkassen Chess Meeting

The city of Dortmund in Germany was stage to the Sparkassen Chess Meeting from June 27 to July 5 2015. The tournament is one of Germany’s best cast chess events that had eight participants this year:

Former world champion Vladimir Kramnik who has participated in this even for twenty-three years and won ten times. The forty year-old Russian currently ranks 8th in worldwide standings and is considered one of the most experienced players in the world.

Fabiano Caruana, who did not only come off winner last at last year’s edition but also prevailed in 2012. At an age of nineteen he caused a stir back then when winning the tournament for the first time. Caruana currently holds an ELO of 2797 points.

German player Arkadij Naiditsch who also won the Sparkassen Chess Meeting at the age of nineteen. This sensational victory happened ten years ago when he managed to defeat chess professionals like Kramnik, Topalov, and Adams. By the way, the exceptionally talented player beat world champion Magnus Carlsen twice.

Georg Meier, who is third best German player and contributed majorly to Germany’s victory at the European Team Championship 2011. It’s his fifth time to compete at the Sparkassen Chess Meeting at which came off second last year after defeating Kramnik.

Women’s world champion Hou Yifan participated for the first time this year. She is a prodigy and as the strongest female chess player in the world, she was by no means an easy opponent at the event. The twenty-two year old was world champion three times already and is a serious challenge even to experienced grandmasters.

Ian Neopmniachtschi competed in the 2008 edition of the tournament and came off second at that time. His victory at this year’s edition of the well-known Aeroflot Open in Moscow qualified him for participating in Dortmund. “Nepo” was considered favorite player for the overall victory, as he has severely gained in playing strength recently.

German-Rumanian player Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu looks back on a long history of chess expertise. When other players competing at the Sparkassen Chess Meeting were still in diapers, he had already been announced Rumanian Champion and even made it to semi-finals in 1999’s world championship. The former European champion transferred from Russia to the German Chess Federation in 2014 where he currently ranks second.

Philippine player Wesley So is persistently one of the world’s Top Ten players (currently rank seven) and has supported the American team since 2014. He became grandmaster at only fourteen years old and was also considered one of the event’s favorite players which he impressively proved with victories over Caruana and Nepomniachtschi.

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Final Results

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Individual Results. Rounds 1 through 7

Round 1. June 27, 2015. 3 p.m.

Nepomniachtchi, Ian

2720

½-½

Caruana, Fabiano

2805

Meier, Georg

2654

½-½

Hou, Yifan

2676

Kramnik, Vladimir

2783

0-1

Naiditsch, Arkadij

2722

Nisipeanu, Liviu-Dieter

2654

1-0

So, Wesley

2778

Round 2. June 28, 2015. 3p.m.

Caruana, Fabiano

2805

0-1

So, Wesley

2778

Naiditsch, Arkadij

2722

0-1

Nisipeanu, Liviu-Dieter

2654

Hou, Yifan

2676

0-1

Kramnik, Vladimir

2783

Nepomniachtchi, Ian

2720

½-½

Meier, Georg

2654

Round 3. June 30, 2015. 3 p.m.

Meier, Georg

2654

0-1

Caruana, Fabiano

2805

Kramnik, Vladimir

2783

1-0

Nepomniachtchi, Ian

2720

Nisipeanu, Liviu-Dieter

2654

½-½

Hou, Yifan

2676

So, Wesley

2778

0-1

Naiditsch, Arkadij

2722

Round 4. July 1, 2015. 3 p.m.

Caruana, Fabiano

2805

1-0

Naiditsch, Arkadij

2722

Hou, Yifan

2676

½-½

So, Wesley

2778

Nepomniachtchi, Ian

2720

½-½

Nisipeanu, Liviu-Dieter

2654

Meier, Georg

2654

0-1

Kramnik, Vladimir

2783

Round 5. July 3, 2015. 3 p.m.

Kramnik, Vladimir

2783

0-1

Caruana, Fabiano

2805

Nisipeanu, Liviu-Dieter

2654

½-½

Meier, Georg

2654

So, Wesley

2778

1-0

Nepomniachtchi, Ian

2720

Naiditsch, Arkadij

2722

½-½

Hou, Yifan

2676

Round 6. July 4, 2015. 3 p.m.

Caruana, Fabiano

2805

1-0

Hou, Yifan

2676

Nepomniachtchi, Ian

2720

1-0

Naiditsch, Arkadij

2722

Meier, Georg

2654

½-½

So, Wesley

2778

Kramnik, Vladimir

2783

½-½

Nisipeanu, Liviu-Dieter

2654

Round 7. July 1, 2015. 1 p.m.

Nisipeanu, Liviu-Dieter

2654

0-1

Caruana, Fabiano

2805

So, Wesley

2778

1-0

Kramnik, Vladimir

2783

Naiditsch, Arkadij

2722

½-½

Meier, Georg

2654

Hou, Yifan

2676

½-½

Nepomniachtchi, Ian

2720

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Caruana won this tournament all over again and left the other participants at a 1.5 point advantage behind.